Amita Matchmakes
by seven days later
Summary: A pregnant Amita embarks upon a one-woman mission to get her brother-in-law someone special. WARNING: Fluff alert! Four-shot romance drabble really... nothing too complex.
1. What Happened That Morning

What Happened That Morning

Amita was bored. She had met Charles Edward Eppes when she was an undergraduate at CalSci, and instantly fallen in love. Sure, it had taken a while for her to realise it, and even longer for him to realise it, but she was infatuated. Hanging on his every word, engrossed in his theories and genius and his math. His beautiful mind drew her towards him, and his intelligence was what she fell in love with first. Her love of the man followed soon after.

Within three years she was living in the Eppes house with Charlie, Alan and to be honest, Don as well. Within four, they were engaged to be married. Amita was happy and adjusted and she couldn't remember a time when things were going better in her life. Almost a year to the day that they were afianced, the wedding took place. All her family, her friends, and the love of her life, gathered in one room, for the reception, made her weep with joy. Either that or it was the baby Eppes growing in her belly. She was eclared by a beaming Alan as the happiest woman alive, and she made no corrections to his claim.

Now though, while still surrounded by romance, happiness and perfection, she was decidedly bored.

So she dropped by the FBI for a visit, and was amused when security smiled and beamed her through without the rountine. Even the doormen were getting to know her.

Nikki and Liz were in the office, working at the same desk, when Amita strolled through. The beautiful mathematician held both hands on her large belly, a habit she had adopted ever since she hit her sixth month, a content smile plastered on her face, giving the distinct impression that she was not all there.

"Yo, Amita." Nikki leant back in her chair, clearly glad for an excuse to get off of whatever paper trail which she was chasing. "How's baby Eppes goin'?" Her colleague leant back as well, discarding all thought of paperwork and looking rather pleased as she did so.

"Healthy I hope. Kicking a lot?"

"Yeah. Keeps waking me up in the middle of the night." Amita grinned, and Nikki wrinkled her nose.

"Cute." Amita shrugged.

"Not really. I think it's gonna be an athlete, the way that it's going at it." They all laughed. "So what's up with you two?" Amita smirked, sitting down none too delicately on a nearby chair and adopting a careful tone. Liz smiled, and looked at the ground, blushing slightly. "Spill."

"Nah, it's nothing." She insisted, and Nikki hit her lightly on the arm with a piece of paper.

"The very fact that you say it's nothing tells her that it is in fact something." She chided, then turned back to Amita, a proud smirk on her face. "Liz has a date."

"Ooh." Amita mocked, good-naturedly. "With whom?"

"We've been dating for ages now, no you can't meet him, and yes there's a good chance I'm gonna get laid." She blew back, making Nikki chuckle. "Seriously, I haven't let him meet you guys because then he'd have to meet the boys." Amita cocked her head to one side.

"And why is that a bad thing?"

"Because, the boys are like my brothers. You know how they act sometimes. Like I need protection." Liz explained, fiddling with her badge which was lying on the tabletop. "Which I don't. They do it to Nikki too." Amita turned her head as Nikki started speaking.

"Yeah. I can't believe Don did that yesterday." Her look was almost embarrassed. "And it looked like it really hurt as well." Liz nodded in agreement. Amita frowned.

"What happened?" She asked.

"There was this suspect who thought it would be funny to... let's just say that his hands weren't where any gentleman's would be." Liz replied. Nikki shook her head, unsure of what to say really. "So Don thought that he'd show him some manners. Slammed him up against a wall and arrested him for assaulting a federal officer. He was none too gentle, either."

"Wow."

"It was kind of embarrassing." Nikki added. "No, scratch that. It wasn't embarrassing. It was _mortifying_." Amita laughed, a small plan forming in her large brain.

"Don protects you a lot?" She asked, slyly, and Liz shot her an interested glance. She recognised that voice. Nikki shrugged, as though she thought nothing much of it.

"He's my partner. I guess he feels obliged."

"Nothing more than that?" Nikki looked not unlike a deer caught in the headlights.

"Why?" She asked suspiciously, and Liz stifled a smile. "What?"

"I've been trying to tell her for weeks." Liz informed Amita, and Nikki caught onto what they were talking about.

"There is nothing," She rolled her eyes. "He's my partner. My _work _partner. You read too much into stuff, Liz." Liz shrugged.

"Not wanting to sound too much like his ex here, but I can tell when he's being a work partner and when he's being Don." She wrinkled her nose. "If you know what I mean." Nikki smiled wryly.

"Don't worry. I get you." She leaned forwards, for emphasis. "But you're wrong." Amita's eyebrows contracted. There was something off about this conversation.

"You like him, don't you?" Nikki pretended to look appalled.

"I don't know what you're smoking, but it can't be good for the baby." She sassed, and returned to her work, wanting nothing more to do with this line of questionning.

"It's okay, Nikki, your secret's safe with us." Amita teased, gently, and Nikki bent her head further down into her paperwork, embarrassed. Liz and Amita smirked to each other, and Amita stood, looking somewhat proud. "Well that's all for now, I really need to go to CalSci... some of my students aren't taking too kindly to their new professor, and they're having problems with combinatorics." Liz nodded.

"Cool. Not that I know what combinatorics are, but that's still cool." They both grinned. "Bye Nik." Amita called, smiling mischieveiously at the awkward agent, who mumbled a goodbye in return. She shared one last knowing look with Liz, then started off to the elevato, hands back on her belly.

Once there, she smiled pleasantly at the closed doors. There was a certain deviousness to the plot forming in her head, and a certain self importance to her smile. Screw combinatorics. Don and Nikki were her maternity leave project.


	2. What Happened That Night

**What Happened that Night**

When men watch sport, they tend not to pay much attention to what is going on around them. They cheer, boo, and swear colourfully, but they do not have the capacity to watch ice hockey and lie at the same time. So that night, while Don was watching the game, Amita found it an appropriate time to corner him and have a few words.

"Hey Don." She was replied with a grunt, and an erratic movement as the puck neared the opposing team's goal. "What's up."

"Nothing much. Work really." Straightforwards, clean and uncomplex. Just the way she wanted it.

"Oh. I stoppped by the FBI earlier."

"Hmm. What? That has to be a foul." She ignored how divided his attention was and hoped that it would work in her favour.

"Indeed it should be. I was talking to Nikki and Liz." A non-descript nod.

"I work with Nikki and Liz." He verified, unecessarily, and swore again as the referee made a decision which was not in his team's best interest.

"Liz told me a story about something that happened the other day." She tested, but thankfully he didn't wrench his eyes away from the screen. Alan had on the exact same expression, a few metres away, and she was pretty sure that he hadn't even realised that there were other people in the room.

"Huh."

"About you arresting someone for being disrespectful."

"That doesn't hold up in court. I've tried." He grunted, making another sharp movement.

"You were protecting Nikki." Amita added, carefully, and this made him look away from the screen. He looked surprised. "Look, the other team has possession!" Once again: his unevenly divided attention. "You'd go to pretty long lengths to keep her safe, wouldn't you?"

"She's my partner." He grunted. Amita resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"You forcefully arrested someone for trying to violate her." Don snorted.

"'Violate' is the wrong word. 'Grope' is much more accurate." He leaned forwards in his seat, eyes wide as he stared at the flatscreen. "Come on..."

"Still, Don. That shows that you have some feelings towards her." Had his team not just scored, he would have responded. "Don't even try to deny it." Amita was being careful - she still didn't know whether he was just being Nikki's work partner, being a friend or being someone who potentially wants to get into her pants.

"She's my partner. Work partner." He said, sounding oddly like Nikki had that morning. "Nothing more, nothing less." Bouncing slightly, he grinned as someone was crushed by one of his team and took a gulp of his beer.

"I don't believe you."

"huh." They were back to the monotone grunts.

"Eloquent."

"Meh." Amita rolled her eyes.

"Listen, Don, I know that sometimes it's hard to separate work and personal lives. Just look at how I met Charlie."

"Different." He said, immediately, not even giving it thought. Amita smirked.

"So you are having trouble separating work and personal lives." She said, triumphantly, and Don visibly cursed himself.

"No."

"For an FBI agent, you're really bad at lying." The conversation was taking a turn in her favour, even if her reply was a mere grunt. "Don, I know that you have a thing for Nikki, and it's nothing to be ashamed of. Hell, if I was a guy..." This made even Alan look away from the game in surprise, and at this moment Charlie appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, as if he had some sort of radar. Amita rolled her eyes again, and the boys went back to what they were doing, hoping that they had misheard. Well, not in Charlie's case.

"Right." Don said, before turning his eyes back to the screen at a particularly loud cheer from the opponent's fans.

"But you do like Nikki."

"She's attractive. That's it. I'd never do anything about it." Don admitted, finally, pissed off that Amita kept interrupting his game. Better to admit to something that could potentially come back to haunt him with dreadful consequences than miss the game.

Amita went to bed smiling at how obsessed with sport men were. When Charlie asked her why she was so happy, she replied with a airy: 'Oh, nothing', and smiled some more.


	3. What Happened The Next Night

**What Happened the Next Night**

Amita had always been quite persuasive. As a child, she had her parents wrapped around her little finger and to tell you the truth, she still did. She honestly didn't believe that she would be able to persuade Nikki and Don to admit their feelings for each other, which of course, she didn't. But, she _was _able to rope them into dinner at Charlie's, and she was happy with that.

Nikki arrived first, with a bottle of wine. Alan welcomed her, and led her outside to the table which Amita had set specially. One of the things she loved and simultaneously disliked about Charlie was his inability to notice when something is out of the ordinary. While this was most of the time frustrating, Amita was grateful that he didn't catch on to what she was trying to do. God knows she loved the man, but sometimes he did get in the way something awful.

"Nice night." Nikki commented, and threw a questionning glance at the empty chair next to her, but didn't say anything. "What are we having?"

"Rigatoni e Gorgonzola." Charlie said, carefully. "I made it myself." Nikki adopted an expression of mock apprehension, making Amita and Alan laugh. Charlie's face fell, so Amita chuckled and kissed him lightly.

"I'm sure that it's lovely." Nikki added, wrinkling her nose at Charlie. "I'm just messing with you."

"Suck-up!" Alan hissed, jokingly, as he poured the wine. "Donnie's late again." Nikki looked up sharply.

"Don's coming?" She asked, then narrowed her eyes and turned her head sideways to Amita, lips pursing. Amita stared at her plate, determined not to look at Nikki, who rolled her eyes in return. She knew exactly what was going on now; she wasn't an FBI agent for nothing. "Smooth, Amita." Amita gave her a sheepish smile, and they were interrupted by the entrance of Don, who wandered out of the house, forehead crinkled in confusion.

"Outside. What's the special occasion?" He asked his dad, plonking himself down on the spare seat next to Nikki. Alan shrugged.

"Don't really know. Amita just thought that it would be nice to have dinner under the stars." Alan frowned slightly, clearly thinking as he handed out the first course. Amita tried not to make eye contact as he realised exactly why she had requested dinner outside, instead changing the subject.

"Everyone enjoy the pasta, Charlie won't admit it, but he put a lot of effort into it." The Eppes and Betancourt smiled fondly. "I came into the kitchen and there was pasta all over the floor!" She added, and they all laughed, except for Alan.

"I suppose I'll have to clean it up then." He mumbled, mocking bad temper, and began to eat the pasta.

"It's good though. I like it."

"For once."

"Watch it _Donald_."

"Sorry _Chuck_." Charlie glared at his big brother, who tried not to laugh because he'd just taken a mouthful of pasta. "Good wine." He cocked his head to look at the bottle, and Amita didn't miss the long stare which Nikki gave him. Evaluating and appreciating him. This was what makes a pregnant woman smile.

"So tell me Nikki." Amita began, choosing her words carefully. "Anyone special for you?" Nikki glared at her, fully aware that she has to be careful with her answer. Lest Amita jumps on her words and choke her with them.

"Amita wants to plan another wedding." Charlie explained, and Alan smiled knowingly.

"No need: I'm not having a wedding anytime soon. Concentrate on Liz, she's the one in a relationship." Nikki deflected, without batting an eyelid, though also without making eye contact. If Amita had looked back to her plate a few seconds later, she would have missed the glance Nikki shot at her partner. He was mysteriously quiet, which made his sister-in-law wonder about what that look really meant to him.

The rigatoni e gorgonzola was good. It tasted just as it should have, had it been in a restaurant. Surprisingly enough. Amita hurried to pour Don, Nikki another glass of wine, just to make them merry, and gather up the plates, asking the help of Charlie as she did so. Alan, having understood the meaning of the FBI agents' third glasses of wine, offered to help her tidy up. Amita watched from a crack in the curtains as they left the two partners alone underneath the clear sky.

She saw them talk, for a while, and heard Alan enter the room behind her. She immediately shushed him, and he smiled.

"Why wasn't I apprised of this?"

"Because you'd tell Charlie, that's why." Amita shot back, bluntly, and Alan shrugged. He probably would have, as well.

"How long?" The retired city planner found another crack in the curtains, and watched the two dark figures on the lawn. They were talking, though about what, neither him nor Amita were sure.

"Not long. But don't you think it would be nice?" Amita chirped, hands once more settled on her belly.

"I never really thought about Nikki. I suppose since I'd given up on grandchildren from Donnie." Alan nudged Amita's shoulder, tenderly. "I'm already getting them from you." She grinned, and they once more turned their attention to the agents on the lawn. Neither Eppes' expression could be priced.

"Woah."

"Yeah."

"Don't waste any time, do they?" Amita blinked, and jumped up and down a couple of times in joy, as Don and Nikki pulled apart. "It worked though! I'm a genius!" She grabbed Alan's arm, positively beaming. "Tell me I'm a genius!" Alan laughed, looking surprised, amused and proud all at the same time.

"You're a genius, Amita." He chuckled. "I seriously didn't see this." Amita giggled, and skipped through to the kitchen.

"Dessert!"

The agents were unsurprised to see Alan's apple pie - it was a dish which was well recognised to all who knew the Eppes well. Or anyone who knew the Eppes at all, for that matter. They were, however, taken aback at how happy Amita seemed, as she noted their clasped hands, just below the top of the table but immediately noticeable. Charlie was much less subtle about it all.

"Why are you holding hands?" He asked, as though there would be a rational explanation to everything. Don laughed and shook his head, rubbing Nikki's palm with his thumb.

"Guess, Chuck." A smirk tugged at Don's lips, and Charlie's eyebrows shot up but for once, he said nothing. Amita produced Nikki's plate of apple pie, throwing her a smug and triumphant look, which made the tough ex-cop roll her eyes, even though she wanted to grin back. "Mm. Pie." Nikki rolled her eyes, and they shared a long look.

"So Don." Began Alan. "How's work?"

"It's... um work." Don shrugged. "There's nothing special about it. It's just work."

"What about you, Charlie, how's the Cognitive Emergence theory coming along?" Charlie took a deep breath and launched into an overcomplex way of saying that he was doing well. Nikki and Don leaned back in their chairs, watching him with amusement, and letting their hands brush as they dangled off the side of their deck chairs. Amita smiled. She so was a genius.


	4. What REALLY Happened The Next Night

_I just thought that maybe a twist was in order for my final chapter..._**_

* * *

_****__**

What REALLY Happened the Next Night

"So tell me Nikki. Anyone special for you?" She glared at Amita, knowing fine well that this was a reflection of their conversation of yesterday morning.

"Amita wants to plan another wedding." Hands down, Charlie was usually right, but this time, he was a tad off base. Nikki sure as hell wasn't going to correct him though.

"No need: I'm not having a wedding anytime soon. Concentrate on Liz, she's the one in a relationship." The young agent shot back, adopting her best interrogation technique. Smooth, inpenetrable and deflective. However, she couldn't help but to glance sideways at her partner, who caught eye contact before looking back down to his dinner. He was clearly as uncomfortable with these questions as she was.

Nikki accepted the following glass of wine, knowing Amita's motives, but not caring quite enough to pass up alcohol. Offering to help them clean up, she was metaphorically shot back down by Alan, who insisted readily that she was a guest here, and that they were making Charlie do the cleaning up for once. The two Eppes and their newest addition disappeared into the darkness of the house, and Nikki leaned back in her chair, finally allowing herself to turn to Don fully.

"You do realise what she's trying to do, right?" She asked, and Don looked down at his glass, then back up at his partner.

"Getting us drunk on three glasses of wine?" He offered, one eyebrow raised.

"She's trying to set us up." Nikki corrected him. "She thinks that a night under the stars will start a wonderful relationship." Don laughed, and dodged the napkin she threw at him.

"What?"

"It's not funny, Don!" She hissed. "This is your family, you deal with them." He held up his hands in mock surrender.

"Deal with them? What are you, the Godfather?" She gave him another none too gentle shove in the arm. He was a big guy. He could take it. "Sorry."

"I'm just saying that I think that they've noticed." Don took a drink, his eyes perplexed over the rim of his glass.

"Noticed what?"

"I know that Charlie's supposed to be the smart one, but seriously, Don." Nikki leaned her elbow on the egde of the lawn chair, as if convinced that the stars were listening in to their conversation. "Noticed about us." Against the cold of the night, she felt his hot fingertips brush against her palm, even though he still refused to look her in the eye.

"And that's a problem why?" He mumbled, and Nikki pulled her hand back sharply.

"Hey, you were the one who wanted to keep it a secret." She said, maybe a little too harshly. "We could have been like everyone else, not sneaking around; pretending that we liked working overtime and taking two different cars to work. But you wanted to keep a secret because you didn't want everyone knowing that you've screwed all the women on your team."

"Woah, Nik!" His mouth formed a small o shape, and his forehead crinkled in annoyance. "It's nothing to do with that."

"Then what's the problem? Everyone already thinks that you're a sex addict."

"I just - they do?" Nikki shrugged.

"Yeah, a lot of people."

"Anyway." Don shook it off. "I didn't want people knowing because in the beginning, we were just messing around. Let's face it, neither of us had intent to stay with each other. It was just really great sex!" She rolled my eyes, but smiled all the same. "But that's changed. I wanna stay with you now, and I don't care if anyone else knows." Nikki rose her hand so their fingers interlaced again.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"So you think that we should tell them?" She asked, feelings of pride and excitement fluttering in her chest. He grinned.

"Yeah. Tonight."

"Fast."

"What's the use in going slow?"

"Yeah. You're already thirty-seven... next stop: death." She dodged the half-assed swipe he threw in her direction and laughed. "I'm sorry. I love you."

"I love you too." He chuckled, and her eyebrows shot up. Many were the times which she had told him how she felt, but zero were the times which he hadn't been distracted, pulled away, or responded with a none too elegant grunt. Masking her surprise, though knowing that he would see straight through the mask, Nikki leaned over the side of her chair and kissed low down on his cheek, nosing his warm face and feeling him smile. One of the things that she never expected of Don Eppes before they had become lovers: he loved innocent body contact. As well as not so innocent body contact, but that wasn't something either of them would adhere to in his brother's back yard.

Suddenly, she heard the door to the porch opening and pulled away, used to the secrecy and tabu nature of their relationship. Nikki tried to pull her hand from his as well, but he held on firmly, not letting her fingers slide away through his. Keeping them safe.

Alan and Charlie appeared, closely followed by Amita, all bearing Alan's famous apple pie.

"Dessert!" Amita sang, and Nikki shook her head, knowing exactly why she sounded so pleased with herself. Charlie, however, was once more in the dark.


End file.
